Are video games the key to your children’s success? Unless they want to become fighter pilots, probably not.
But many experts say a computer can help get children plugged into the so-called information highway at an early age, when it counts most.
Computers today play a central role in many businesses, and knowing how to use one is a definite plus when it comes to getting a job. It’s also handy for a lot of other uses—writing a letter, poking around on the “Internet”… or making The Nation.
“If you go into any office in any of the communities, all the typewriters are gone. It’s all computers now,” says Luke MacLeod, chairman of the Cree School Board.
“So people realize that kids have to have those skills.”
The problem, some say, is that many people are getting left behind on the information highway, especially people in poor and minority communities.
“If you’re in a minority or poorer family, you’re less likely to have a computer at home,” said Catherine Montgomery, president of the Centre for Media Education in Washington, D.C.
“Our belief is that there needs to be a national commitment to ensure that every child has access to this national information infrastructure. There is no commitment now,” she said.
In fact, U.S. census figures show that 36 per cent of Native American children don’t even have a phone at home, let alone a computer. That compares to 21 per cent of black children without a phone, 17 percent of Latinos and 6 per cent of white kids.
How do Cree kids compare? Fortunately, the news is good. People may not be so quick to put down the money for a computer at home. But this is made up by the fact that the Cree School Board embarked on an ambitious computer buying program for the schools years ago.
At Voyageur Memorial in Mistissini, every elementary classroom now has a computer. The school’s secondary students have access to a computer room, and the staff includes a secondary school teacher who’s a computer expert. The Mistissini First Nation has kicked in some financial assistance to help buy the computers for the local school.
Other bands have also been helping the school board with their own funds, such as Waskaganish.
In Eastmain’s school, a computer room with 10 machines is now in its first full year of operation. The school is planning to order more computers, but first needs to find the money in the budget. Principal Dorothy Gilpin said students will use the machines for a creative writing project. “We’ve noticed the students are really into them,” she said, “even the little ones.”
MacLeod said computers are also being used to help special-needs kids. “As soon as you give them a computer, they learn really well,” he said.
“Many people think education is giving children knowledge,” said MacLeod. “But really what it is is giving them the tools to acquire that knowledge. And computers give them that.. Even video games help.”
Apparently, ripping the spine out of a video ninja is a good way for people of all ages to get more comfortable around computers, and it improves your ^ manual skills. All those hours weren’t wasted!
